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COPYRIGHT DEPOStn 



Bridge 

Whist 



By 

George Fitch 



P F Collier bf Son 
New York 



v-^ 






Copyright 1910 
By P. F. CoUier & Son 



(g;<CU256389 



BRIDGE WHIST 

The Lead Pencil as a Factor 
in the Game, 

Abolition of the L,ong Flow- 
ing Sleeves of Society 
Leaders, 

Revealing the Broken Sus- 
pender Button by the 
Turn of the Card. 

Four Years' Apprentice- 
ship for the lylll Rules 
and Penalties. 



BRIDGE WHIST 



BRIDGE WHIST is or- 
. dinary whist with a 
wheel- of -fortune at- \ 

tachment. It is a cross be- ] 

tween double -entry book- ' 

keeping and roulette, and is 
played with a deck of cards, 
an adding machine, and a j 

promissory note. It is listed 
as a game, but generally j 

varies between a vice and a 
life-calling. ^ 

Bridge whist can easily be I 

explained to any one who \ 

knows all about ordinary 
whist, compound fractions, j 

Robert's rules of order, wire- 
less telegraphy, mind-reading i 
and silent signals. The rules 
of ordinary whist prevail as 



BRIDGE WHIST 

far as they go, but, in order to 
make the game appear more 
like real financiering, each 
suit is given a diflferent value 
in the counting. Each trick 
over six when spades are 
trumps counts two pennies 
or automobiles, depending 
upon the location of the game. 
Glubs count four, diamonds 
six, and hearts eight. It is 
also possible to cut out 
trumps altogether by a simple 
mechanism, in which case 
each trick counts twelve. 

Then, in order to add a 
Wall Street zest to the game, 
the values of these tricks can 
be doubled or quadrupled by 
any one with a taste for 



BRIDGE WHIST 

plunging; and in order to 
complicate matters still far- 
ther, so that the experienced 
player may get her just dues 
from the beginner, each court 
card is permitted at times to 
break into the score with a 
count of its own. This ex- 
plains the double-entry fea- 
ture of the game. After a 
hand has been played, and 
the winner's extra tricks have 
been multiplied by 2, 4, 6, 8, 
12, 24, 48, or 96, according to 
the value of the trumps and 
the intensity of the proceed- 
ings, the losers appropriate 
the pencil and do a little 
harvesting of their own. If 
they have held a majority of 



BRIDGE WHIST 

court cards in the trump suit, 
they may count themselves 
twice the value of the trump 
suit. If they have held four 
court cards, they get four 
times the value of the trump, 
and if they have held five, 
they get five times its value. 
That ought to be enough, 
but it isn't. To show that 
the game was invented by a 
firm believer in monopoly, it 
is possible, if you hold four 
court cards in one hand, to 
count yourself eight times 
the value of the trump, 
while five court cards in one 
hand gives you ten times the 
trump's value. 



BRIDGE WHIST 

Thus it will readily be seen 
that, while the winners of a 
hand in bridge may cord up a 
total of two points by skill, 
the losers may make ten times 
that much, simply by stand- 
ing in with the royal family. 
This makes it evident, with- 
out explanation, that the 
game was invented in Eng- 
land. 

The fascination of bridge 
lies partly in the fact that 
the game continues to be in- 
teresting long after the last 
card has been played. The 
participants generally play a 
rubber of three games, and 
then spend the rest of the 
evening doing sums in simple 



BRIDGE WHIST 

addition, to find out who won. 
To-night they will find out 
who won last night's game, 
but they will not find out 
who won to-night's game 
until some one remembers to 
bring home another tablet of 
scratch paper. 

Counting Them Out with the 
Lead Pencil 

THE varying values in 
bridge account for its 
peculiarly exasperating 
qualities and its skill in break- 
ing up families. The lead 
pencil is forever elbowing its 
way into the game and nulli- 
fying the most brilliant play- 



BRIDGE WHIST 




• . . doing sums in simple addition to 
find out who won . . ^ 



BRIDGE WHIST 

ing. The winners may, by 
the most magnificent and 
superscintillating whist, man- 
age to drag out a trick in the 
face of great odds and win a 
rubber. Yet, at the end of 
the game, the losers may 
excuse themselves, and, after 
half an hour's work with a 
bank examiner, demonstrate 
that the winners owe them 
anywhere from thirty cents 
to a month's house rent, sim- 
ply because the losers were 
skilful enough to hold the 
honor cards that were dealt 
them. 

Thus, as in pugilism, the 
strong point in bridge whist 
lies in counting your oppo- 



BRIDGE WHIST 

nents out. There are other^nd 
more harrowing ways of doing 
it, too. When your opponent 
has made the trump, you may 
decide that you have the 
requisite seven tricks in your 
hand. If you are a sport, you 
will then "double" — that is, 
double the amount which the 
extra trick will win. If your 
opponents are people of nerve 
and recklessness, they will 
"double back," thus quad- 
rupling the values. You are 
then likely, after a hasty 
mental inventory of your se- 
curities, to double once more, 
thus multiplying the trick by 
eight, after which the game 
will proceed with clenched 



BRIDGE WHIST 

teeth, each trick lost mean- 
ing another opera ticket gone. 
It is under these circumstances 
that ladies who are other- 
wise lovely and amiable have 
been known to whip out a 
trump after "revoking," and 
sweep the boards with a cold 
and haughty air which defies 
criticism, providing their so- 
cial positions are sufficiently 
above those of their victims. 
Such incidents lead the 
wrathful losers to make re- 
marks, which in time become 
rumors, and before any one 
realizes it another social cen- 
ter has been shaken to the 
core. 



BRIDGE WHIST 

Just how bridge whist got 
its name is not generally 
known. It is possible that it 
is called * * bridge ' ' because so 
many people get 'cross over 
it. It is sometimes called the 
"bridge" of cusses, to dis- 
tinguish it from that other 
famous bridge in Venice. 

Bridge is a quaint and cer- 
emonious game as far as the 
actual playing of cards goes, 
though often resembling a 
stock market afterward. It is 
as full of etiquette as fencing. 
It doesn't matter what you 
do to your opponent, but you 
must do it just so. The cards 
are dealt just as they are in 
denatured whist— thirteen to 



BRIDGE WHIST 

each player. This proves that 
there is something in the 
thirteen superstition, for | 

every player immediately re- 
marks about his or her bad 
luck. When the dealer has 
finished his nefarious work, 
he looks over his hand and \ 

figures out which suit is most 
likely to make his opponents 
wish they were dead. If he 
can't find a good suit, or if I 

his partner kicks him under 
the table, or if he thinks it j 

is more fun to criticize ] 

some one else's choice of I 

trumps, he "passes it over" 
to his partner, compelling her ] 

to choose. When the trump j 

has been decided, the eldest ] 



BRIDGE WHIST 

hand, which may or may not 
belong to the youngest player, 
coyly inquires: 

"Shall I play, partner?** 

And the latter answers: 

"Pray do." 

This is positively the only 
time that prayer and bridge 
whist get into the same room 
together. 

When the game really 
starts, a most important thing 
happens. The dealer's part- 
ner spreads her cards down 
on the table, face up, neatly 
arranged in suits, and retires 
from the game, leaving her 
partner to play both hands. 
This provision has been found 
necessary from the fact that 



BRIDGE WHIST 

the game affords 400 times 
more chances for getting mad 
than ordinary whist. By giv- 
ing each player in turn a 
chance to go out on the porch 
and cool off, by kicking the 
spindles out of the porch 
balustrade, the wise inventor 
of the game has made it pos- 
sible for four mad people to 
play through an entire even- 
ing without biting each other. 
Having everything his own 
way, like the Speaker of the 
House of Representatives, 
the dealer goes gaily through 
the game, playing both hands 
with a confident "I-know- 
what-you're-going- to-get- 
next" expression that is most 



BRIDGE WHIST 

disconcerting. Formerly by- 
law 94, section 6, prescribed 
that if the dealer led from his 
own hand when he should 
have led from the "dummy" 
hand he must be penalized 
one trick. This rule, however, 
led to so much nervous pros- 
tration and temporary insan- 
ity that it has recently been 
suspended from all bridge 
whist that is played on the 
low gear. 

When the hand has been 
played the winners add up 
their extra tricks, multiply 
the score properly, and enter 
it in the proper place on the 
score-card. Both sides then 
quarrel over the question of 



BRIDGE WHIST 




. . "• a chance to go out on ths \ 
porch and cool off, hy kicking the ' 
spindles out of the porch balustrade ... 



BRIDGE WHIST 

"honors" or court cards, and 
the side which wins enters its 
honor score in another part of 
the ledger. Thirty points con- 
stitutes a game and two 
games out of three make a 
rubber. The winner of the rub- 
ber gets 100 extra points for 
its honor score, which is not 
included in the game score. 
When the evening's play is 
over the players retire for re- 
freshments, leaving their sec- 
retaries and tellers to post up 
the books and compute the 
returns. When the game is 
played merely for amusement 
this ceremony is often omit- 
ted, the books being balanced 
once a month. 



BRIDGE WHIST 

Bridge has become im- 
mensely popular in society 
circles for several reasons. In 
the first place, it does away 
with the necessity for conver- 
sation, thus putting the rich 
and the intelligent on an 
equality. In the second place, 
it provides a polite and com- 
paratively painless method of 
distributing wealth, into 
which the Socialists would 
do well to look. In the third 
place, a good knowledge of 
bridge gives the player un- 
limited facilities for showing 
calm superiority, haughty 
disdain, amused contempt, 
and other expressions which 
distinguish the real things 



BRIDGE WHIST 

from the bargain counter 
brigade. 

As a rule a special costume 
is prescribed for bridge play- 
ers. In London, however, 
women are supposed to play 
the game in tight-fitting cos- 
tumes with short sleeves. 
Formerly, when long, flow- 
ing sleeves were the style, it 
was found in certain circles 
that when a society leader's 
hand was very poor she gen- 
erally managed to sweep a few 
cards off the table with her 
voluminous cufFs, thus mix- 
ing up the game and putting 
the auditor under a great dis- 
advantage. Long, flowing 
sleeves were abolished in 



BRIDGE WHIST 

poker games in the West 
many years ago, but for a dif- 
ferent reason. Whereas the 
London sleeves got the cards 
off the table the Nevada 
sleeves got them on to the 
table. The former was harder 
on the reputation, but the 
latter was more detrimental 
to health. 

The Rules of Bridge 
for Blood 

THERE are two kinds 
of bridge whist — ^bridge 
for fun and bridge for 
blood. The rules of play in 
the former are comparatively 
simple, but in the latter 



BRIDGE WHIST 

i 

there are as many rules as i 

there are in golf when it is 
being played by two Scotch- i 

men. In a game for blood, 
where each player is counting 
on paying grocery bills if the j 

right card is turned, nothing \ 

is left to chance. The con- 
versational lid is clamped 
tightly down, and the only 
words allowed during play 
are prescribed by the rules. 
This is necessary, owing to ! 

the great chance for signaling 
between partners. A mild ] 

and inoffensive word, like 
"pshaw," may mean only 
indignation to the opposition, ; 

while to your partner it may ' 

mean: **Lead trumps and \ 



BRIDGE WHIST 

divide the swag in the alley 
later. ' ' In the highest circles 
where bridge is played with 
the passion of the true 
artist, a wink or a sneeze 
may be as serious to the 
winker's or sneezer's repu- 
tation as a fifth ace is in 
another and popular card 
game. 

As a celebrated authority 
on bridge has remarked, 
perfection in the game is 
accomplished slowly and 
after long effort. One may 
learn the political game in a 
year, and in the course of a 
few years may perfect him- 
self in astronomy, Sanskrit, 
biology, and bridge-building. 



BRIDGE WHIST 

Perfection in bridge, however, 
is not so easy a matter. It 
requires not only a knowl- 
edge of the 1,111 rules and 
penalties, the best plays, and 
the best methods of settling 
large debts on a small income, 
but it calls for great skill in 
deduction and mind-reading. 
The accomplished player is 
supposed to read by the play 
of a card not only the in- 
tention of the player but the 
hand which he holds. Natu- 
rally, only long practise will 
enable you to know that 
when an opponent has put a 
three-spot of clubs on your 
ace of trumps she holds four 
more clubs, is short on spades. 



BRIDGE WHIST 

will take the second trick in 
diamonds, owes for the 
diamonds she wears and has 
a hole in the heel of her 
left stocking. Yet this is 
child's play to the accom- 
plished bridge player. 

Before the beginner 
attempts to play bridge he 
should devote at least four 
years to a study of the game. 
The first year should be de- 
voted to learning the 
rules and penalties, the con- 
versation of the game, and 
the meaning of such mys- 
teries as "chicane," * 'cross 
ruffing," "eldest hand," 
* 'established suit, ' ' * guarded 
honors," "dummy," "grand 



BRIDGE WHIST 

slam," **Littleslam," * Tar- 
borough," "Singleton," and 
the other 99 terms which are 
used to fog up the game for 
the beginner and make him 
easy meat. At the end of 
the first year the novice 
should have acquired such a 
vocabulary that the ordinary 
citizen will be able to under- 
stand only one word in seven 
of his bridge conversation. 

The Art of Card- Talk 

THE second year should 
be spent in the study 
of bridge from the 
standpoint of mathematics, 
telepathy, psychology, and 



BRIDGE WHIST 

astrology. By the end of this 
year the student should be 
able to know the results which 
will follow from leading 
a seven of diamonds in the 
last game of a rubber in an 
established suit against the 
dealer in the dark of the moon. 
He should also be able to 
diagnose his opponent's hand 
so well that it will be plain to 
him, when the latter discards 
a weak spade on a high 
heart, on the defensive dur- 
ing the third hand with the 
score 10 to 8 against him and 
the thermometer at 78° Fah- 
renheit, that he is holding 
protected honors, will lead 
through if he gets a chance. 



BRIDGE WHIST 



and that, moreover, in a ] 

moment of intense excite- | 

ment he has broken a 1 

suspender button in the rear j 

of his wardrobe. There are j 

17,876,432 combinations of 
this sort in bridge, and the 
good player knows all of 
them. I 

The third year should be 
devoted to the reading and 
translating of signs. Bridge \ 

abounds in signs, which are \ 

permissible and highly use- 
ful. You are expected to i 
tell from the cards your I 
partner leads whether she 
expects you to trump, to 
discard, to lead from your { 
strong s\ut, or to have a \ 



BRIDGE WHIST 

convulsion and delay the 
game until the trump is for- 
gotten. You can also tell 
by signs what your partner 
thinks of you. When she 
lifts her eyebrows, after you 
have played, she means 
''chump." When she 
shrugs her shoulders she 
means "idiot." When she 
glares pleasantly she means: 
"Why didn't you return my 
lead?" When she smiles 
politely while grinding her 
teeth she means: "Why do I 
play with a numskull ? " It 
is not pleasant to the begin- 
ner to understand these 
signs, but it is useful, for as 
soon as the student has 



BRIDGE WHIST 




When she glares pleasantly she means: '; 
*'Why dxdnH you return my lead?^^ ] 



BRIDGE WHIST 

learned all the plays he will 
not be content until he can 
use these signs himself. 

The fourth or senior year 
can be spent profitably on 
the fine points of the game 
— how to make the novice 
feel happy and contented 
when he is losing $5 a 
minute ; how to quarrel with 
a lady in a gentlemanly 
manner; how to quote Rule 
39 to an opponent in such a 
manner as to make him feel 
that when it comes to play- 
ing bridge your game is of 
the cantilever variety, while 
his is only a culvert. This is 
also a fine year in which to 
leam how to play $7,500 



BRIDGE WHIST 

worth of bridge a year on a 
$5,000 salary and come out 
even or better. 

With his education thus 
finished, the beginner need 
have no hesitation in enter- 
ing the most refined and 
exclusive circles, and min- 
gling freely with the best 
players without leaving his 
watch at home. Knowing 
bridge, he will need to know 
neither conversation nor 
manners. In a good stiff 
game there is no time for 
either. 



BRIDGE WHIST 

A Few Helpful Dejinitions 

THESE few remarks 
would not be complete 
without some defini- 
tions of bridge terms which 
will be found both useful and 
necessary. The following 
are the most important : 

** Dummy "—The leader's 
partner; your partner. 

"To RufF"-To trump. 

To "Cross RufF "-To make 
your partner cross by trump- 
ing. 

"Grand Slam"— To show 
temper in putting down a 
card. 



BRIDGE WHIST 

** Revoke "—A riot signal, 
produced by refusing to 
follow suit when you have it. 

"Finesse"— To economize 
in spots when taking a trick. 

"Pass it Over"— During 
the game, to allow your 
partner to name the trump. 
After the game, to settle up. 

"Eldest Hand"— The hand 
which is dealt first. 

"Old Hand"-The player 
who comes out ahead. 

"Love All"-Something 
wliich happens at the begin- 
ning of a game and never 
again. 

"Odd Trick"-To play 
something of which your 
partner does not approve. 



BRIDGE WHIST 

*Toints"— What you 
make money on, the same 
as in Wall Street. 



jW 



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